Weekly Dvar Torah: The Rebbe – The Ultimate Torah Jew
When Gimmel Tammuz comes around we all look to reinforce our connection to the Rebbe. We study what the Rebbe taught us. We review the Rebbe’s instructions. We Farbreng and tell stories of the Rebbe and Rebbe miracles and Brochos past and present.
A most primary aspect about the Rebbe, is that the Rebbe is a Torah Jew. The Rebbe’s Hasmodo (diligent study of Torah) is something that was unparalleled alongside his leadership of Chassidim and the world.
From his earliest years the Rebbe was known as a prodigy who never played, but was engrossed in his books from early morning to late at night. In the Rebbe’s short biography in the Hayom Yom, the Rebbe allowed the phrase “he studies with prodigious assiduousness and is blessed with great success …. Gaining in his earliest youth a wide knowledge in the entire spectrum of Torah subjects, both the exoteric and esoteric portions.” The Rebbe’s genius was well known.
When he became the Frierdiker Rebbe’s son-in-law, the Rebbe’s claim to fame were his Torah dissertations in all parts of Torah. All Torah giants of the time, would communicate with him and marvel at his vast and deep knowledge of Torah. And finally when he started publishing his own Torah works, the Torah world was on fire.
Finally, when the Rebbe became Rebbe, and he started Farbrenging with the Chassidim, the flow of Torah that came from the Rebbe’s holy mouth was unprecedented. The Rebbe held 1,907 long Farbrengens, some of which went on for 8 hours straight. In addition, the Rebbe spoke 1,286 single stand-alone Sichos. The number of hours that the Rebbe spoke in public, is more than a staggering 11,000 hours.
39 volumes of edited Likkutei Sichos have been published. Close to 40 volumes of (over 10,000) letters, most on Torah topics, have been published. The transcripts of the Rebbe’s Farbrengens have been published in over 250 volumes, and the numbers are growing as more are found and edited. All this is public knowledge and available to all.
What gets lost in the discussion, is that we talk about the Rebbe’s public face. His leadership, his love and concern for every Jew, and the thousands of miracles that the Rebbe performed as the leader of the generation. Rarely do we realize that the public persona of the Rebbe covers up on his private persona behind closed doors.
One would think that Rebbe never had a minute for himself, he was all about the public. But in reality, most of the day, in his private room, the Rebbe simply sat and learned Torah. One could say that the Rebbe spent 18 hours a day learning Torah.
I personally witnessed twice how the Rebbe walked into his room, and as he crossed the threshold of the door, he ran to his desk to open a Gemara and started learning. Once on Yom Kippur, when he came up for the break after Mussaf and 5 hours of Davening. And once after Hakofos on Simchas Torah at 4 am after a night which started at 8:30 with a 4 hour Farbrengen, and ended at 4 am after 3 hours of dancing. The Rebbe didn’t take a moment to make himself comfortable, but he ran straight to the Gemara.
When the Rebbe moved into his small room in 770 after the Rebbetzin passed away, we saw the light in the Rebbe’s room on all night. For very little time during the night were the lights turned off. The Rebbe didn’t sleep much, he was busy studying Torah.
Such is the personal behavior of a Torah Jew.
When we pay attention to the Rebbe’s leadership, we realize how every word and every instruction of the Rebbe was connected to Torah.
Just a few examples.
When the Rebbe initiated the Shlichus campaign, he quoted the Posukוַיֹּאמֶר ה אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ (“Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you) as the instruction to leave all your comforts behind, and do what G-d wants, to spread Yiddishkeit to every corner of the world.
When the Rebbe announced Mivtza Tefillin before the 6-day war, he quoted a Posukוְרָאוּ כָּל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ כִּי שֵׁם ה נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ וְיָרְאוּ מִמֶּךָּ (all the nations of the earth will see the name of G-d on you, and they will fear you), as R’ Eliezer says, that this refers to the Tefillin on the head. And this way the Jewish army will be protected. This was a pretty novel idea, but the Rebbe took it directly from the Torah.
When people wrote to the Rebbe about all kinds of problems, he would instruct them to check the Mezuzos, because it says in Torah that a Mezuzah protects the person and his home while in the house or out of the house. So, if there is a problem, check the Mezuzah and fix it and problems will be solved. What an original idea. The Rebbe successfully ingrained this idea in our minds, that today this has become the natural Jewish response to any challenge. Have a problem? Check the Mezuzah.
During the Gulf war, the Rebbe was the lone voice who said that the safest place in the world was Israel, because the Posuk says that אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה אֱלֹקיךָ דֹּרֵשׁ אֹתָהּ תָּמִיד עֵינֵי ה אֱלֹקיךָ בָּהּ מֵרֵשִׁית הַשָּׁנָה וְעַד אַחֲרִית שָׁנָה (a land the Lord, your God, looks after; the eyes of Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year), and this was the reason not to fear. The Rebbe vociferously reprimanded those who were scared and worried. Nobody thought of this until the Rebbe said it, and his words triumphed.
In every idea that the Rebbe shared or any campaign that the Rebbe initiated, he always showed us how this is clearly written in Torah. Not claiming originality for his idea, it has been there in the Torah from time immemorial, the Rebbe explained. Strangely, for some reason nobody ever thought about it for thousands of years.
The Rebbe is the wholesome Torah Jew, he couldn’t see any dichotomy or disconnect, between the Torah and the entire existence. Everything is found in the Torah, he said. Just follow what Torah says and you will find all the solutions.
This comes directly from the fact that the Rebbe was the ultimate Torah Jew.
Perhaps, this is why the Rebbe kept repeating what the Rebbe Rashab said before his passing; “I’m going to heaven but the writings (Torah teachings) I leave for you.” The Rebbe would explain that the Rebbe Rashab told us that he will remain with us in his Torah writings. The Rebbe was hinting to us that after Gimmel Tammuz, I will be there with you in my writings. That’s why he worked so hard teaching Torah, and he gave us hundreds of Torah books, because this is where he is, and there is where we will find him.
Join Project Likkutei Sichos, join Project Hayom Yom, become engrossed in the Rebbe’s teachings, and you will find the Rebbe presence next to you at all times.
Have a productive Gimmel Tammuz, and a Rebbe Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
